Real birds are much more interesting than “Da Bird.”
I still let Baby outside once a day or so. He still wanders the concrete patio area for 2 minutes than goes back inside on his own. I think he considers the patio another “room” in the house, and probably thinks to himself “It’s too squinty-bright out here, the wind & dust makes me sneeze, and this floor is really hot on my paw-pads. Back to the cave-rooms for me.” Which oddly enough is often my own personal sentiment about the outdoors.

I’ve read about this cat toy called “Da Bird.” Everyone seems to swear by it and love it, so I looked it up. Turns out it’s essentially feathers attached to a string attached to a pole of some kind. Now, I don’t know the exact mechanics of this popular cat toy, but my thought was: “I’ve been using leather shoelaces/crinkly plastic and part of a fishing pole for years, this isn’t new.” My cat Misty loved that fishing pole/leather shoelace thing - she’d chase it for hours, drag it around the house, and would even bring it to me as I sat on the couch watching TV.

The most obvious difference of Da Bird is the feather tip. And I suspect Da Bird uses a more stretchy, springy type string than leather bootlaces. Still, since I’m cheap, and I like to tinker with things, I thought I’d try making my own Da Bird. Kind of. I mean, y’know, it won’t have the springy string to make it bounce around, but that’s what arm muscles are for. And a leather shoelace lasts for years. I know, because the toy Misty played with I only ever used one shoelace for it, and it lasted for a decade. Alas, I don’t have that fishing pole piece anymore, so I’d have to improvise for the stick.

The local Walgreens had a cat toy that consisted of feathers attached to velcro-backed cloth, which then was stuck to cloth covered balls. These came three to a package, for four bucks. Then the leather shoelaces - about the same price for a pair, maybe it was closer to six bucks, I don’t recall. Eight to ten bucks for 3 imitation Da Birds. Maybe even 4 or 5, if I split the feathers - there are more feathers on these ball-toys than on the Da Bird’s I’ve seen. Now, I’ve seen Da Bird advertised on-line for about $6-$8 each, not including feather refills. So not tons cheaper to make your own this way, perhaps, but somewhat, plus it’s a lot more fun (for me) to make the things then just order a toy on-line. You could probably do it cheaper than I did, actually. Anyway, I took the feathered ends of one of these cat ball toys and unvelcro-ed the feathers from the actual ball, so I was left with just the feathers+cloth they were attached to.

Next, I went into the backyard. One of the big trees that covers our yard drops thin branches all the time. You could use them for fire tinder, I suppose, too - but I scrounged around until I found one that would work as a stick handle. I tied one end of a shoelace around one end of this stick. Then I took the “feather bundle” and with a small pocket knife, I made a slit in the attached fabric. I threaded the shoelace through that, tied it off, and wallah. I have feathers on a string on a stick. Probably more durable than Da Bird, too, based on pictures I’ve seen.

So, I had my homemade Da Bird. All I needed was a cat to try it out on. I called out for Baby, who eventually got out of his sleeping basket to come see what I was fussing about. He meowed in greeting and sat at my feet. I tossed the feathers at his feet and jiggled the toy around. I skated it around the floor, I made it jump and leap in the air, and I walked around the couch dragging it behind me. During all my efforts, Baby stared at it curiously. He stuck out a paw a few times to poke at the feathers. He meowed some more. He followed me around the couch, but mostly because that’s what he always does…he didn’t seem very interested in the toy itself and after a while even seemed a bit annoyed that I had woken him up for such silly non-food shenanigans.

I kept at it for a few minutes longer, and Baby finally did have a few burst of playful energy and pawed at the feathers, as illustrated by the next photo. But I wouldn’t exactly say the toy was a successful hit or anything. Hehehe.

Man, Misty would have loved this toy. Bailey would have too, as well as Moochie and Stripe and…. But to be fair, Baby has never been a “playing” kitty. One of those few cats who just doesn’t “play”. He won’t even chase after laser pointer dots, for example. Completely ignores the dot…sometimes he runs away from the red dot, even. All my cats who were obsessively playful are gone, and I’m left with this elderly, neurotic, anti-social, skittish but sweet cat who likes to beg on his hind legs and bite fingers as his form of entertainment. So I guess my homemade Da Bird shall have to await a possible future kitten to get any real use out of it. :)

When I let Baby outside, I leave the sliding door open a bit so he can rush back in if he gets nervous. This afternoon I closed it so I could take these pictures. Yes, I’m so mean, no, Baby wasn’t actually terrified or anything, and yes, I let him back in.

Of course, as soon as I went outside again, he followed me right back out. I sat in a chair, and he walked in circles around the chair. I got up and walked to one side of the cement patio, and he followed. I walked to the other side, and he followed. I went back inside, he followed. He’s glued to my side, apparently.

And apparently, it’s Baby photos week on Candid Crimson.

Just an update on how my cat is doing.
Baby-kitty had two back teeth that were broken off at the root. It didn’t look a super-recent breakage, so I don’t know how long they were like that…could be a few weeks, could be months…but since that seemed like a likely culprit for his facial swelling, I gave the nod to remove them. The vet I went to was a short hop away in Menlo Park…they seemed efficient and pleasant. When I went to pick him up several hours later, the vet whipped out a plastic mold of a cats teeth/gums - it looked like a set of dentures for cats - and proceeded to show me what teeth had been removed etc. Nice customer-service touch. More importantly to me, tho, was the fact he said he found another tooth that looked like it needed removing, so he went ahead and did that…it didn’t appear to me that he charged me any extra for it, either.

The vet gave me an amusing story about the teeth removal…how he went in and one of the back teeth came out, root and all, very cleanly. The other tooth was more brittle (even the root) and prone to breakage. So when he x-rayed Baby’s mouth to see if he’d gotten all the root, he saw a spot on the xray and thought to himself “more root” and went back in to try and get it. Another x-ray - another spot. Tried to remove it. Another x-ray, another spot. By then the vet figured he’d gotten most of it out and the remaining bit would either be harmless or would work its way out on its own….the vet didn’t want to go messing too deep into Baby’s skull, especially when the patient in question is a senior citizen of the cat kingdom. So I guess Baby had a tooth root that practically went up to his eyeball…an eyetooth? Hahaha…

Baby came home and was all wigged out from his experience - not to mention the painkillers the vet gave him - running around the house like he was on speed. He seemed to be eager to eat again, however, and for a day or so was gulping down the chow. Then for about 24 hours he stopped eating again…even tho the swelling of his face had gone down a lot. At first I worried, but then thought that maybe once the painkiller wore off, the holes in his gums were sensitive…perhaps taking big normal bites was causing the food to stick in those holes too much or something.

This evening he finally became hungry enough that when I put some food down, he used his paw to “scrape” some out of the dish, and licked his paw clean. In that fashion he cleaned his plate, which made both him and myself happy.

So he seems to be on his way to being well. The vet, btw, said Baby looked “really good” for his age…his other non-broken teeth were fine, with far less tartar than one would expect, and his actual gums seemed non-inflamed…plus his general appearance/weight/muscle etc. was very good. Baby went through a rough patch for a few months w/those seizures, but the past couple he’s been doing really well - except for the stiff hips, you’d hardly realize he was going on 18 years. I guess the move has been good for him? I wonder if Baby will be one of those rare cats that ends up living to be 20 years old. That’d be neat. Then again, he could fall over and die tomorrow.

I’m so cynical. :D

Edit: I’ve had a lot of photos I wanted to post, but between sick-cat and my thumb issues I’ve been…well, not in a big blog mood. Plus trying to reduce my computer time (again) because of the hands, so I haven’t done much photo work beyond clicking the shutter. :) Hopefully I’ll get back to some more regular posting of pictures again soon.

I guess it wasn’t just the heat. Baby-kitty’s left cheek by his nose/under his eye is swollen. I’m guessing it’s one of two things: tooth problem, or he ran his face into something. Like a door. Ever since we’ve moved here, he’s liked to sit in front of the front door, and a few times we’ve come close to smacking him with it - y’know how pets are and how that happens now and then. One of those times happened last week as I came home with groceries…but I was pretty certain the door didn’t hit his face, if it actually hit him at all. Of course, now I’m trying to go mentally back in time, wondering if the door really did hit him, and it took a few days for the swelling to be noticeable, or something.

Then again, he’s nearly 18 years old, and it could be a tooth abscessing. I’ve tried looking at his gums/teeth, and don’t see anything super red or inflamed, and none of his longer teeth seem loose or anything, so I dunno. His face might’ve been slowly swelling up the past few days for all I know, but I only noticed it Sun. morning, when it became large enough to make his face ‘look funny’.

A third possible is allergy or insect bite. He’s never been allergic to anything before, and being an indoor cat his environment doesn’t change much. Can’t think of anything in that regard. Insects…maybe a spider, but there aren’t lots of black widows like down in south San Jose and…well, who knows. I always do this…stay up all night 2nd guessing what ifs. Heh.

He still wants to/does eat/drink, just not very much at a time - the swelling seems to make it uncomfortable for him to use his tongue or something, so he doesn’t want to “lap” much. He doesn’t seem to be in any major pain, and I can touch his cheek and stuff and he doesn’t yowl or even seem to mind all that much, so it’s not super-touch sensitive. But if the swelling doesn’t go down he’ll eventually starve from not enough calories. Anyway, he’ll be going to the vet. He’s old, but I can at least get him some x-rays or something to see if it’s something fixable like a bad tooth.

He was doing pretty well for his age, up to this point. A little hip-arthritic, but those epileptic-like seizures he was having a while back largely stopped after putting him on a better wet-food diet, and his mood’s been good. Sigh. Poor Baby. I hope it’s just a tooth or bruise-swelling.

My fuzzy hero. If you’ve don’t understand the post title reference, you’ve never seen Underdog. Shame on you.

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Ye olde kitty has been wilting in the heat, so I occasionally wet a rag with water and dampen his fur a little. Sometimes I drape the rag over his back for a few minutes. Yes, he likes it. At first I was just going to post the original pics (below), but then during a burst of boredom I turned Baby into Undercat.

Not long after I made Baby-kitty a simple, enclosed sleeping bed out of a cardboard filing box, I decided it wasn’t long enough. So I took an old printer box and the lid from the filing box to create a new bed. This took a bit more cutting work, to create the sloped “roof line” that gives it a sort of barn roof shape. The main box is heavier cardboard, which is also good. And as you can see below, Baby is as pleased by this hidey-bed as w/my earlier version. He can even stretch out lengthwise, somewhat, if he wants.

My biggest amusement (I’m easily amused…) is how Baby often initially crawls into the box and sits/lies down with his tail hanging out of the entrance and onto the floor. He’ll stay like that for a long time - I bet he thinks he’s “hidden” and forgets that he has a tail. After all, cats don’t have very big brains, y’know.

Subtitle: “Shopping for a cat-bed.”

Due to Baby-kitty being unhappy about not having a good “hidey hole” for when he’s feeling stressed out, I’ve been on the look-out for some kind of solution. His normal sleeping basket - a wicker basket I got for free out of a garbage can years ago - is great, and he loves it, but it’s too open. When I do loud housework or guests come over, he freaks out and desperately wants to get into the bedrooms to hide, which typically is a no-no. Baby is sweet and lovable if he trusts you, but he’s not exactly a brave or social cat.

Anyway, I thought to myself: “Self, maybe he’d like one of those cute, enclosed, tent-like kitty-beds, and maybe I’ll splurge and buy one.” So I go to a couple pet stores, and here’s what you’re typically going to find there:

They’re cute and they’re fuzzy. But there’s some problems. One, they’re almost always too small - big enough for kittens or very small cats, but Baby is pretty long and tall and doesn’t always want to sleep in a tightly curled packed ball shape. Somewhere down the line, commercial pet-supply makers seem to have decided that all cats weigh 6 pounds and are tiny. Half of the cats I’ve owned have been over 12 pounds with giant paws and large bones. Or they were just fat. Tiny cat beds won’t work. A second issue I have with them is that while they claim to be washable, well, if you’re a cat owner, you know how much hair a cat can shed into fuzzy bedding in just a single day. Who’s going to brush-out and wash the thing every day? Not I. And at the end of a week, it’d be so full of hair it’d probably clog the washer. Hahaha. The third issue is that most of these pre-made cat beds cost $25, $35, $50 or more. For a little bit of sewed-together cloth and thin foam padding that you’re likely going to toss in several months, because it’s so infested with cat hair that you don’t want to deal with it anymore. It’s stupid.

So I muttered to myself: “Self, you knew it was unlikely you’d want to pay for these, so it’s back to making your own, cheap, cat bed thingy.” The first thing I did was look at the plastic, covered litter-pans. They’d be ideal, since they have lids, are easily cleanable, and already have a hole cut in them. But again, pet stores wanted $20 for smaller ones, or $25-30 for the ones I thought were the right size…and there were even these big, round, igloo shaped ones for $60. $60 for a plastic covered litter pan, that’s not even one of those electric auto-scooper ones. A rectangular, non-covered basic plastic litter tray costs $5-$7. I’m not paying an extra $20+ because it has a tall lid! It’s crazy! I refuse to pay!

So off to the hardware/home improvement places I went. I was looking for a rectangular storage bin with a lid. I figured I could cut a hole in it, put a layer of foam and a blanket inside, and I’d have a bed. However, while the prices were reasonable ($5-$10) most of the ones I found looked something like this:

While this 12-gallon storage bin would work (if it wasn’t clear plastic and had a solid lid cover), the problem is they’re too big, and we don’t have big rooms where a cat bed can have a large footprint and not be in the way. I looked for something smaller, but then the issue became that the storage bin wasn’t tall enough, or wide enough, or … sheesh, you’d think finding a plastic bin the right size for your kitty wouldn’t be that hard?

I gave up for a while. But then, this afternoon I spent some time emptying a few more boxes of books that were still unpacked from moving. The boxes were file-storage type cartons…cardboard with separate lids. They’re a nice size for packing paperback books and such and are fairly strong. I started tossing them to the side to be broken down later, then stared at them for a while. Now, I’ve made cat beds out of cardboard boxes before. Who hasn’t, right? And I had considered doing it again. But most of our moving boxes were too big for the purpose, or again, weren’t tall enough, or wide enough, etc. And they didn’t have separate lids, either. These file boxes were a little small…Baby wouldn’t be able to lie down stretched out fully or anything, but they were bigger than those expensive fuzzy covered cat beds from the pet stores, so he wouldn’t have to sleep completely curled up, either. They didn’t seem quite tall enough tho - with the lid on, Baby wouldn’t even be able to sit half-way up.

I pondered a while, and then re-raised the small flaps that are supposed to fold down inside the top of the box for strength, and taped the flaps together at the corners so they’d stay upright. I put the lid back on top, and now the box was 3 or 4 inches taller. I cut out a hole. Then I took an old foam mattress pad (I hang on to old ones for cat bedding), cut a piece out, and put it inside the box. Then covered the foam with a piece of blanket (I buy cheap $6 throw-blankets at the supermarket that I can cut 4-5 cat-bed size pieces from), and set it on the floor near Baby’s wicker basket. Baby, meanwhile, was lying in the basket the whole time, pretending to snooze but really watching me…and so I looked at him and said “Baby, I made a hidey-box for you.” Since Baby apparently understands English, he immediately climbed out of his basket, sniffed at the box for a second, and crawled right in. He hasn’t come out since, so I’d guess he likes it. If I felt like it, I could also cover the outside of the box in shelf paper or something to make it look a tad less ugly.

His wicker basket will remain in it’s spot, and this hidey-box can go anywhere I need it to go - the hallway probably - and he can run and dash into it if he feels scared or just feels like sleeping in it normally. It’s smallish but big enough for him, it’s easily replaceable, and most of all, it costs about $2-$3. I know that I am a very, very cheap person when it comes to many things (electronics is my one weakness…), and I know that inflation is ever a thorn in everyone’s side. But all I can say is, if you paid $25-$50+ for a kitty-bed at a pet store, you were totally ripped off. Don’t do it. Heck, you could even buy some cheap, 1/8″x4′x4′ wood panels at Home Depot for $5-$8 and build your own nice-looking cat-bed - or a litter box cover to surround a $7 litter tray - using only a hammer and some metal tacks. Pet owners, stop paying for all that pre-made stuff - retailers keep the prices at stupid levels, simply because you will pay. So stop it. Just stop it. :)